New York, NY--November 9, 2011--A new report released today by New York-based Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland identifies the top ten toxic pollution problems and sources. The report also calculates, for the first time, the health impacts of toxic sites.

The book ‘Chemicals, Environment, Health’ gives a complete overview of the current situation regarding the international instruments and methods for the management of chemicals. It describes all international instruments and the international organisations active in this field and their roles and responsibilities. It contains the implementation status in a number of countries and regions. It also shows what has ben achieved and where major endeavors are still necessary.

It gives examples of all continents, from China to Chile, via Africa, Europe, North and South America. Contributions come from Academia, Policy makers, Industry, Civil Society Organisations. It describes the history since the first UN Conference on Environment and Development in Stockholm, 1972, till now and an outlook to the next 10 years. It is written by a team of authors from all continents.

"In the mid 1980's researchers from Laval and McGill universities found, to their surprise, elevated levels of PCB's and other POPs in the breast milk of Inuit women in northern Quebec and southern Baffin Island. How was this possible? Where were the contaminants coming from? How could Inuit -hunting, fishing, and gathering thousands of kilometres from any industry-ingest POPs?"

"Monitoring of human exposure to persistent organic pollutants POPs and heavy metals have taken place since 1994 in a circumpolar study conducted under the Arctic monitoring and assessment programme (AMAP). The study has confirmed that Arctic populations relying on marine food (Inuit) have an exposure level of POPs and methyl mercury related to the amount of traditional food eaten (...) there is a need for dietary advice to Arctic peoples so they can make informed choices concerning the food they eat."

Latin America:

Increase use of pesticides in Costa Rica. "According to research by the Regional de Estudios en Sustancias Txicas (IRET) – Institute for Studies on Toxic Substances, shows that the use of agrochemicals has elevated without growing the agricultural areas."

What the men in his area have in common is they all work in farming. So Dr Orantes thinks a major cause of their kidney damage is the toxic chemicals - pesticides and herbicides - that are routinely used here in agriculture.

"A people's Right Declaration Convention held on September 17, 2006, at Eloor — a small island on the Periyar river — in Kerala, which has been identified as one of the toxic hotspots in the world, came down heavily on the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (kspcb) for failing to check the indiscriminate discharge of hazardous effluents into the river by 250 factories in the Udyogamandal industrial estate."

"It (DDT) is infamous for threatening bird populations by thinning eggshells, and has also been linked to increase risks in humans of diseases such as cancer and Parkinson's -- an incurable and often deadly brain disease."